There were pcmcia cards that were made with the wavelan/orinoco chipsets
that would work. I had wavelan and proxim cards that worked in a
PowerBook 1400, 3400, and 3500 (original g3/250). I ran 7.6.1 through
9.1 on each of those machines at different times...all could be made to
work with the Proxim card...but the wavelan cards from other brands were
more picky due to needing the Apple Airport software that required OS 9
as I recall. I found it easier/simpler to use the proxim cards...which
used their own software, rather than the Apple airport software plus the
wavelan stuff...but that's your call. I do not think any of those cards
are still in production...so you are likely to be searching eBay or
hamfests/computerfests to find them. Finding the old software is likely
to be the real challenge...the wavelan cards needed a specific version
of the airport software...which is part of why the Proxim cards that
didn't need that airport software were easier to setup and make work.
Note that the key to whether these work is the chip they used. They
were made with a variety of brand names on them at that time...as the
chips were sold to a variety of companies, so you had to dig or
experiment to find out if they had the right chip in them that would let
them work. Note also that later Proxim cards used a different chipset
than the early cards, and so the later cards will not work...I ended up
with one of those from eBay that the seller swore would work...though he
didn't try it...and it turned out to be the wrong chipset and never
worked. I passed that one along to someone with a pc laptop where it
worked fine.
A quick search shows the lucent branded wavelan cards are still
available. Amazon is selling the Lucent branded wavelan cards here:
http://www.amazon.com/Orinoco-Gold-802-11b-Wireless-Card/dp/B00006BA7X
I have some of those, they do work. However, they need the original
Apple Airport software, as well as the card's software to work. The
airport software likely is not included in the package...so you will
probably have to find it elsewhere. Because they need both sets of
software, they are a bit more finicky to setup and get working in my
experience.
I am not finding any of the older Proxim cards in my search today...lots
of their newer ones, but those do not work. The old ones said wavelan
or orinoco on the cards, and had the proxim name across the front of the
card with the x much larger than the other letters...proXim. Any that
show the businessman waving his hat are the newer ones that do not work.
(Note: you are limited to "b" speeds...so even if you find a "gold"
card that advertises running at "g" speeds, it will only work at "b"
speed in this setup as far as I could tell.)
For more modern machines, there are usb dongles that also work. Good luck.
Agent 5 <mailto:[email protected]>
March 7, 2012 9:50 PM
I happen to have a G3 Lombard running OS 8.6 - Would it be possible to
connect this PowerBook to the internet wirelessly? I'm aware that this
can be done using Apple's AirPort technology on OS X, but what about
on a Classic Mac OS?
Thanks,
-Myles
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